Downtown News

York has been selected as a top 16 finalist in the Strong Towns “Strongest Town” contest--a March Madness-style bracket-based competition to find the strongest town. According to Strong Towns: “We know that no town is perfect. This contest is about showcasing towns that are doing their best to be strong, that have the building blocks in place to be strong towns today and in the future.”

Voting will happen this week, starting Monday, February 27. Please stay tuned and help us spread the word and get out the vote! Voting for the first round will end Thursday at 11pm.

About the Contest:

Throughout the next month, Strong Towns, a national nonprofit working to strengthenfinancial resilience in America’s cities, towns and neighborhoods, is hosting acompetition to determine the strongest town in America. This is the second annual“Strongest Town Contest” and this year, Strong Towns is pleased to announce that itreceived applications from communities in three different countries.

Teams of applicants (including government staff, citizen activists and nonprofit leaders)were invited to apply to the contest by answering a series of questions about theircommunity, and 16 towns have now been selected to compete in a bracket-basedcompetition to determine whose is the strongest. Towns are judged based on criteria likefinancial solvency, citizen engagement, transportation options and ability to adapt to newchallenges. Learn more about Strong Towns principles here:www.strongtowns.org/mission.

From February 27 - March 24, readers of the Strong Towns website will be invited tovote for the strongest town in daily bracket-based match ups, much like the NCAA’sMarch Madness tournament. First round voting will be based on answers to a short seriesof questions, and subsequent rounds will include photo essays, podcast recordings and afinal webinar showdown for the championship.

About Strong Towns:Strong Towns is a national media organization whose mission is to advocate for a modelof development that allows America's cities, towns and neighborhoods to growfinancially strong and resilient. Strong Towns reaches an audience of more than 80,000readers and listeners per month, and has over 1,500 members. Learn more athttp://www.strongtowns.org